CVE-2026-97475 in Linux
Summary
by MITRE • 09/24/2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
thermal/drivers/tegra/soctherma: Switch to devm cooling device registration
Use devm_thermal_of_cooling_device_register() to simplify resource management and avoid manual cleanup in error paths.
As a side effect this change has the benefit of solving an existing issue. Before, the function tegra_soctherm_remove() only called debugfs_remove_recursive() and never called thermal_cooling_device_unregister() for any of the cooling devices registered here.
After the driver removal, the thermal framework's cdev list would still hold references to thermal_cooling_device objects whose devdata pointer (ts) pointed to memory already freed by the platform device's devm cleanup.
With this change, the cooling device is unregistered when the driver is removed, thus fixing the issue above.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/24/2026
The Linux kernel vulnerability addressed in this update pertains to improper resource management within the NVIDIA Tegra thermal SoC temperature monitoring and control driver. Specifically, the tegra_soctherm_remove function failed to properly unregister cooling devices during driver teardown. This oversight resulted in a use-after-free condition where references to thermal_cooling_device objects remained active in the kernel's internal lists even after their associated data structures had been freed by the device management cleanup routines. The root cause lies in the original implementation which relied on manual resource handling that was incomplete, leaving dangling pointers and stale entries within the thermal framework's cooling device registry.
From a technical perspective, this flaw represents a classic memory safety violation where kernel space retains references to deallocated memory regions. When the platform driver is removed or unloaded, the devm cleanup mechanism frees the underlying data structures associated with each cooling device. However, because thermal_cooling_device_unregister was never invoked for these devices, the global list maintained by the thermal framework continued to point to invalid memory addresses. Subsequent attempts by other kernel subsystems to access these cooling devices through their registered callbacks could trigger a use-after-free scenario. This type of vulnerability is particularly dangerous in operating system kernels as it can lead to unpredictable behavior, including kernel panics, data corruption, or potentially arbitrary code execution if an attacker can influence the memory allocation patterns that overwrite the freed structures with controlled content.
The operational impact of this vulnerability includes potential system instability and denial of service conditions triggered by driver unloading events. An local user with sufficient privileges to load or unload kernel modules could theoretically exploit this flaw to crash the system. Furthermore, if the thermal framework attempts to query status or control cooling devices after removal but before a full reboot, it may dereference invalid pointers leading to undefined behavior. In more severe scenarios involving specific memory layout conditions, this use-after-free condition could be leveraged for privilege escalation attacks against the kernel space, compromising the integrity and confidentiality of the entire system.
To mitigate such vulnerabilities, developers should adhere strictly to managed resource allocation patterns provided by the Linux kernel API. The resolution involves switching from manual cleanup procedures to using devm_thermal_of_cooling_device_register which automatically handles both registration and unregistration based on device lifecycle events. This approach ensures that resources are released in reverse order of acquisition when the driver is detached, preventing dangling references. Security best practices dictate that all allocated kernel objects must have corresponding deallocation calls executed under all exit paths, including error handling routines during initialization and removal functions during teardown.
This vulnerability aligns with Common Weakness Enumeration CWE-416 which describes use after free conditions in software systems. It also relates to ATT&CK technique T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter if the resulting instability is used as part of a broader attack chain, although primarily it falls under exploitation for denial of service or privilege escalation via memory corruption. Organizations managing Linux-based embedded systems should ensure that their kernel configurations include patches addressing this specific driver issue to maintain system stability and security posture against potential local exploits targeting thermal management subsystems.